Former Pacific Fleet chief: We need full disclosure on Benghazi — now

posted at 9:31 am on October 30, 2012 by Ed Morrissey

Retired Admiral James A. Lyons likely pulled few punches as commander in chief of the US Pacific Fleet during his career … and he hasn’t started pulling punches now, either. In a blistering column at The Washington Times, the former commander blasts the lack of action from the US when the administration learned our consulate in Benghazi had come under attack, writing that “courage was lacking” that might have saved at least some of the four American lives lost on September 11. “Someone high up in the administration,” Lyons writes, “let our people get killed” — and he wants some answers immediately as to whom:

The Obama national security team, including CIA, DNI, State Department and the Pentagon, watched and listened to the assault but did nothing to answer repeated calls for assistance. It has been reported that President Obama met with Vice President Joseph R. Biden and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta in the Oval Office, presumably to see what support could be provided. After all, we had very credible military resources within striking distance. At our military base in Sigonella, Sicily, which is slightly over 400 miles from Benghazi, we had a fully equipped Special Forces unit with both transport and jet strike aircraft prepositioned. Certainly this was a force much more capable than the 22-man force from our embassy in Tripoli.

I know those Special Forces personnel were ready to leap at the opportunity. There is no doubt in my mind they would have wiped out the terrorists attackers. Also I have no doubt that Admiral William McRaven, Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, would have had his local commander at Sigonella ready to launch; however, apparently he was countermanded—by whom? We need to know.

I also understand we had a C-130 gunship available, which would have quickly disposed of the terrorist attackers. This attack went on for seven hours. Our fighter jets could have been at our Benghazi mission within an hour. Our Special Forces out of Sigonella could have been there within a few hours. There is not any doubt that action on our part could have saved the lives of our two former Navy SEALs and possibly the ambassador.

Having been in a number of similar situations, I know you have to have the courage to do what’s right and take immediate action. Obviously, that courage was lacking for Benghazi. The safety of your personnel always remains paramount. With all the technology and military capability we had in theater, for our leadership to have deliberately ignored the pleas for assistance is not only incomprehensible, it is un-American.

There has been plenty of speculation as to what Ambassador Chris Stevens was doing in Benghazi in the first place, which Lyons touches on in his column. Even apart from that, though, this argument above is the key to the failure of the American response. We always come to the aid of our diplomatic missions when under attack, especially with as many assets in the area as we had at the time. It’s worth noting that we intervened militarily in Libya in the first place to prevent a massacre of civilians by Moammar Qaddafi in Benghazi — and now we’re supposed to believe that we couldn’t coordinate a military response to an attack in that same city on our own consulate in seven hours?

Here’s another curiosity, too. General Carter Han, who commanded AFRICOM on September 11th, had already been rotated back home. Now we find out he’s leaving the Army altogether:

General Carter F. Ham, the Combatant Commander of Africa Command (AFRICOM) and a key figure in the Benghazi-gate controversy, is leaving the Army. On October 18, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta had announced that General Ham would be succeeded at AFRICOM by General David Rodriguez. Later speculation tied this decision to the fallout from the September 11, 2012 attack in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens. However on Monday October 29 a defense official told The Washington Times that “the decision [to leave AFRICOM] was made by General Ham. He ably served the nation for nearly forty years and retires after a distinguished career.” Previously all that was known was that General Ham would be rotating out of AFRICOM at some future date, but not that he was leaving the service. General Ham is a few years short of the mandatory retirement age of 64, but it is not unusual for someone of that rank to retire after serving in such a significant command.

James Robbins notes that the White House insisted that Ham took part in the decision not to supply assistance to the consulate, but Ham told Rep. Jason Chaffetz that no one had asked him about it. Ham’s retirement could mean that the Pentagon had some sort of disciplinary action pending against him over the incident (also the subject of much speculation, but little in the way of direct sourcing), or it could have a different meaning altogether. It would be inappropriate for Ham to criticize his Commander in Chief while still in uniform, although he could go to Congress to report any perceived malfeasance at any time.

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I don’t want Obama merely out of office, in a 35 million dollar Hawaiian home, planning his library. I want him tried and prosecuted for treason.

parteagirl on October 30, 2012 at 9:37 AM

Baby steps baby steps. If “merely out of office” does not happen first, nothing will.
He says continuously “I’m offended that….” “I’m offended that…..” We must offend him first. Because his ego will explode being reelected. It will be worse than Hugo Chavez.

What burns me big time is, with the exception of Fox News, the rest of the MSM has done everything imaginable to try and sweep what happened in Benghazi under the rug! It is proof that, again with the exception of Fox News, anything even coming close to objective journalism from the MSM is long gone. Their only sole chief primary concern right now, above all else, is do whatever it takes to get Obama re-elected! As for everything else, including Benghazi, truth be damned!

Although the MSM continues willfully to ignore this story, I’m confident the American public will demand a thorough answer to whether the administration decided to flout the long standing tradition to “leave no man behind.”

Treason is not too strong a word and has already been brought up by at least a couple of writers, e.g Roger L. Simon.

…I’m just SO fluking angry right now…I have a picture in my mind….similar to the one where he was sitting in the situation room during the OBL raid…watching events unfold… and doing the same thing here… but like it was some kind TV show… doing nothing…going to bed…and flying to Vegas…No Big Fluking Deal!

Flag officers have the responsibility and the right to register their disagreement with policy and outcomes. If their disagreement is profound, they have a duty to resign their office and register fully their protest with the American people so it shall be known.

I agree that there needs to be full disclosure on the Benghazi debacle and the Admiral is correct–it is unAmerican to leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy. It is no wonder that Doherty and Woods ran to the sound of the guns……it is who they are.

I want to know how they’re gonna bring the terrorists to justice. I think there was about 150 of them, according to reports. The Libyan government isn’t about to let you bring them to justice, and Obama is all about not pushing our weight around against Muslim nations. I think they realized right away that they would never bring these people to justice so they put out a fake story about a pro-American group going to the house of the bad guys and dealing justice. Remember that? Of course that was before the public found out that it was a brigade of heavily armed terrorists who attacked us.

Since they already tried one fake justice story, they’ll try another one. Or they will focus on one character and try to make you think that going after him will be satisfactory for justice. I mean someone else besides the youtube video guy.

I want Mitt to win, step up the investigation (way up) and prosecute, prosecute, prosecute!!! Can you imagine how much obama & co’s non-response, emboldens terrorists everywhere?! Heads should roll all over Washington for this debacle.
Its probably a stupid question but: As Commander in Chief, would obama be prosecuted through the military or through a civilian court?

Most naval commanders, when they make a decision such as this, have logical reasons for it and stand by their decisions. Does anyone really believe that, if the administration relied on the decision of General Ham, they wouldn’t have him lined up in the bus lane?

Perhaps, when the media gets cured of their anorexia, they can go on a little feeding frenzy and find out the truth.

I have a question for the MSM. If they keep this covered up and Obama is re-elected and, after the election everything that comes out points to Obama not being re-elected, where is their credibility then? RIght now, our illustrious free press is responsible for spiking this story and it really is a major news story.

The Gen Ham retirement isn’t unusual. Generals at the 3 and 4 star rank have to be appointed to one of the limited number of postions for officers at those ranks. You can’t just hang around until retirement age. So, he either gets another COCOM, becomes Chief of Staff of the Army, Chairman or Vice Chairman of the JCS or a very limited number of other jobs. Bottom line, without appointment to another 4 Star job he has no other option but to retire.

there is another controversy involving Rear Adm. Charles M. Gaouette; unconfirmed reports he was trying to help the besieged, against orders from WH and was replaced and sent home; the man is/was in command of a Stennis striker group.

Disgusting. I’m ashamed for our country and grieved for these men and their families. May justice be served soon.

JAM on October 30, 2012 at 9:46 AM

Any disgust you have here should not be aimed at your country, but at the Mainstream Media that has done everything within their vast power to try to ignore this story into oblivion, strictly to insure their Dear Leader gets re-elected.

Every single news outlet and news service out there should be flooded with complaints and condemnation right now from citizens demanding the truth in what actually happened in Benghazi!

Even better, hit them all where they live, namely their pocketbooks and boycott the lot of them!

Maybe then they will all get the message and actually start doing some real HONEST OBJECTIVE journalism for a change of pace!

Benghazi? Fog of war. Emails flying around that were impossible to read. The drone feed? Ummm.. grainy and hard to see.

I love these progressives water carrying O zombies, who shield the President from criticism at all costs, who have tried to paint this debacle as being too complicated and impossible to decipher.

Utter. Nonsense.

Military communication exceeds civilian in almost every single way. There are steps and measures in place designed for this exact scenario. Check that. There are steps and measures in place, designed to quickly deliver clear and concise up to the minute language and instructions, for far, FAR worse scenarios than this.

WE KNEW. The CIA, State Dept, DoD, and White House knew exactly what this was and by whom, within 20 minutes of the initial hit. Someone made a call to stand down and let them die.

You water carrying liberals make me sick. You’re standing in the way of the truth. Worst of all, I think you know it.

The ironic thing is that Obama done the right thing, he would have had a profound and foreign policy and military victory all rolled up in one. And probably secured his 2nd term.

Imagine, if you will, how much the MFM would be covering this had Obama sent in those special ops forces and routed the attackers. Think there would be a difference in that scenario and how they are covering it now?

Same group to include the DEA watched the gun running of Fast and Furious live on court ordered vid feeds from the gun stores and the gun store parking lots as the gun running went live on TV in the White House and Dept. of Justice etal. This as the guns that killed Brian Terry were trasfered to the drug/gun running Mexican cartel mules in the parking lots as this bunch of crime family watched.

A DEA paid informent fired the shots that killed Brian Terry.

Brian Terry under orders from this White House and Hopeless Security had bean bags to fire to proctect himself.

“The Stennis group deployed from Bremerton in late August and had entered the Navy 5th Fleet’s area of operations in the Middle East on Oct. 17 after sailing across the Pacific. The Stennis made port visits in Thailand and Malaysia on its way to the Middle East.

It deployed four months earlier than scheduled in response to a request by the commander of U.S. Central Command, Marine Gen. James Mattis, to maintain two aircraft carriers in the Middle East. The Stennis replaced the USS Enterprise carrier group.”

It’s amazing that we have a bigger lying scumbag in the Oval Office than Bill Clinton. Clinton was a scumbag, but he didn’t hate America like this oaf.

Bitter Clinger on October 30, 2012 at 9:52 AM

But he doesn’t love America enough to stop campaigning for the SOB… He loves the Democratic Party more… and his second chance at the brass ring through Hillary.

djl130 on October 30, 2012 at 10:01 AM

Bill Clinton campaigning for Obama has erased any shred of respectability that Clinton managed to garner over the recent years. It’s like Obama offered him a path-to-disrespectability and Bill Clinton just said, “gee, whizzz, great!”

Piecing the news acocunts together I think this is what happened…. A decision was made early on not to send in forces for our people. I think many in the WH felt it was not a serious attack and the consulate could repel the attack.( I’ll give them this much) Obama went to bed his my pet goat moment with that order standing. Nobody bothered to wake him up to countermand the order our people died.

At our military base in Sigonella, Sicily, which is slightly over 400 miles from Benghazi, we had a fully equipped Special Forces unit with both transport and jet strike aircraft prepositioned. Certainly this was a force much more capable than the 22-man force from our embassy in Tripoli

Heh, where’s Blink to expain to us again how we don’t have readiness capability in that area, blah, blah, how expensive it is, blah, blah and how it takes longer than 8 hours to move troos from Sigonela into Benghazi (preposterous!)…that’s why two generals have been fired, because thy disobeyed orders and wanted to help when the scoamf or panetta (since the scoamf has no clue anyways) told them to stand down…bloody bastages…

I hope that all of New York City is unable to vote in the election due to power outages and the more conservative part of the upper part of state votes solidly for Romney …………… Thus the state of New York goes for Romney.

Imagine, if you will, how much the MFM would be covering this had Obama sent in those special ops forces and routed the attackers. Think there would be a difference in that scenario and how they are covering it now?

note to media: It makes no sense on your part not to cover this story and investigate. Even if somehow you hold off the reporting until after the election. This will be like watergate again with Obama resigning in disgrace like Nixion. Do you really want Biden as the POTUS? Do your job and report on this story and the cover up. If obama and the WH would have come clean at the begining of this he would have taken a hit in the polls and maybe lost an election but by trying to cover it up he made a very bad event so much worse. Media do your JOB. NOW

Imagine, if you will, how much the MFM would be covering this had Obama sent in those special ops forces and routed the attackers. Think there would be a difference in that scenario and how they are covering it now?

The Hammer on October 30, 2012 at 10:00 AM

I’m thinking there were shades of Carter’s failed special forces debacle hanging over many of those decision’s makers head. That and somilia. I think Obama allowed the fear of a possible failure and bodies being dragged through the streets to make the decision for him. He played it safe from a “political” POV. He at no time placed this into a military POV IMO

Dir’ Libya claimed to have more than seven hundred fighters in Kufra in southeast Libya in early 2012, according to its spokesman, Hayaka Alla.

Al-Qaeda is trying to expand its appeal through the use of front organizations, such as Ansar al-Sharia. Al-Qaeda operatives have returned from Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen, Europe, and elsewhere to help constitute a Libyan branch of al-Qaeda. Although foreign jihadists and al-Qaeda members are likely present, senior Libyan operatives are probably in command of the al-Qaeda associated network nodes in Libya. Al-Qaeda will probably refrain from using the al-Qaeda name and instead may use other names, such as Ansar al-Sharia, or simply mujahedin.

A March 2012 report in Elkhabar suggested that Libya has become the center of a network designed to send jihadists to Syria, where a jihad to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has been declared by the most influential Muslim clerics in the Arab Sunni world. The newspaper reported that a joint French and Algerian security services investigation has identified 21 Algerians and five French citizens of North African descent among al-Qaeda’s fighters in Syria.

All of them allegedly went through Libya for training before traveling to Turkey with fake Libyan passports and crossing the border between Turkey and Syria. The newspaper further stated that al-Qaeda has opened a least two training camps in Libya—one near the town of Houn in the center of the country and the other believed to be close to Sahl ‘Ajlah, south of Blue Mountain in eastern Libya. These facilities are designed to train volunteers for jihad from the Maghreb, Egypt, and Europe (Europeans of North African descent).

Other reports confirm Elkhabar’s allegations that al-Qaeda has used the lack of security to establish training camps in Libya. Indeed, al-Qaeda and former members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group have converged on Darnah to train and organize. Hundreds of Islamic militants are in and around Darnah, and there are camps where weapons and physical training are available to activists. Senior al-Qaeda operative Abd al-Baset Azzouz, sent to the region last spring by al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, is among them and has been operating at least one training center.

He sent some of his estimated 300 men to Brega to make contact with other militant Islamist groups farther west. Al-Zawahiri’s plan for him is to establish a base for al-Qaeda in Libya. Azzouz has been close to al-Zawahiri since 1980 and first visited Afghanistan in the 1990s to join the mujahedin fight against the Soviet occupation. There are two military camps at Darnah, both occupied by Islamists known as the Brigade of al-Nour, but they are now “linked” to the Libyan Ministry of Interior.

Al-Qaeda militants are using the countries that toppled their leaders in the “Arab Awakening” as bases to train radical Western youths for potential attacks. A small number of British would-be jihadists are also making their way to Arab countries to seek training and opportunities for militant activity, as they do in Somalia and Yemen.

Such an influx of fresh recruits will likely allow al-Qaeda to expand in numbers and capability, using training methodologies similar to those employed in Somalia and northern Mali. Key operatives such as Azzouz will provide training in overarching ideology and niche skills, such as improvised explosive device (IED) construction.

The presence of training camps in Libya for would-be jihadists in Syria and elsewhere is not surprising despite the Libyan transitional government’s denials, given the historical propensity of young Libyans for jihad and the lack of a strong central authority that could prevent such training from taking place.

The Libyan prime minister, ‘Abdel Rahim al-Kib, sternly rebuked Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin when the latter spoke of “a special training center for Syrian revolutionaries” who “are sent to Syria to attack the legal government” during a UN Security Council meeting in Libya. The prime minister did not, however, elaborate on the training-camp issue. Instead, he reiterated a pledge of political and financial support for the Syrian insurrection against President Assad’s dictatorship.

The decision by our Failed president to NOT provide upfront security and military assets during this assault is TREASONOUS period. A majority of Americans know he LIED for weeks to us and the world, along with his administration. Can you imagine watching in real time our fellow Americans being attacked and knowing they are going to die for his political Presidential Campaign is truly disgusting and shameful.

If he does not loose the election and I KNOW he will, he should be Impeached immediately.

You know there is one hell of a difference between not stationing enough personnel on site to provide adequate security and purposefully countermanding orders to their emergency response team when they are screaming for help. IF this is true then that SOB needs to be punished severely.

A most perplexing question remains. So why would the best trained soldiers in the world, US Navy SEAL’s, expose themselves in the open illuminating a target with, an invisible to the eye targeting laser? They had to have been told that air support was ready to acquire the target, hence their illumination effort.

Air assets had to already have been in the area and ready to fire and that had to have been conveyed to our guys there. Perhaps it was as minimal as an armed drone, but a last second decision was made in Washington to scrub the mission.

My favorite theory (reads conspiracy at this point) is supposedly from Hillbuzz, that Amb.Stevens was suppose to be kidnapped and exchanged for the Blind Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, the current resident of our prison system.

This will be exposed! (Though I dont think Woodward will have much to do with it) The question is, what, if anything, will be done about it? I’m sure some “expendable” underlings will be prosecuted and pay the price for their co-operation, but can the person/persons who are really responsible (ultimately, the administration) have to pay the price for their dereliction? Our best hope is if someone with all the goods, to save their own azz, will blow the whistle loud and clear. It would have to be someone that has solid proof that could not be ignored and would leave no doubt.

Sadly, I have a sick feeling that all the cockroaches will get away, scurrying into the cracks, only to resurface in higher numbers at a later date and time.

A most perplexing question remains. So why would the best trained soldiers in the world, US Navy SEAL’s, expose themselves in the open illuminating a target with, an invisible to the eye targeting laser? They had to have been told that air support was ready to acquire the target, hence their illumination effort.

Air assets had to already have been in the area and ready to fire and that had to have been conveyed to our guys there. Perhaps it was as minimal as an armed drone, but a last second decision was made in Washington to scrub the mission.

HH: Now as you see all these reports, Tom Cotton, what sticks out with you? And we can stay on that report or anything else. What are your questions?

TC: The President says he wants to have an investigation. We don’t need an investigation. The President knows what he was doing from 4-10PM Eastern time on September 11th. We know what he was doing for some of that. He was in the White House with the Secretary of Defense. He was also on the phone with Benjamin Netanyahu, who of all people would understand the need to get off the phone when you’re under attack. We had calls of distress from Tyrone Woods, the ex-SEAL, who was a CIA operative on the ground at the CIA annex in Benghazi, who was requesting air assets, and then requesting military backup. Now there was a security team that moved from Tripoli to Benghazi. I believe that that was authorized by the CIA and within their rules of engagements. But to move military assets from Italy into Libya, which is almost as close as Tripoli was to Benghazi, would require, obviously, approval of the Department of Defense. And I doubt that the Department of Defense would deny or grant such a request without taking it directly to the President. You’re talking about moving military assets into a sovereign country. So we need to know when the President was briefed on the situation in Benghazi, what the military proposed to do, what the President did in response to that briefing, because Hugh, here’s the reporting, and no one’s denied this reporting. Tyrone Woods used a ground laser designator to illuminate an enemy mortar team. For all those veterans out there, you know that infrared discipline in combat is just as important as light and noise discipline. You don’t use an infrared illuminator until you’re ready for fire support. Tyrone Woods is a Navy SEAL. A private in the infantry knows not to do that. He would not have illuminated that mortar team unless he expected air fire immediately as soon as he did so. I strongly suspect there was an armed drone, or even a Specter gunship overhead that did not fire, even though Tyrone Woods expected it to. I wanted to know who gave that order. Was it a local commander? Was it General Ham, the commander of African Command? Was it Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs? Was it Leon Panetta? Or was it the President?